getting excel into network users hands but keeping control of the reporting

I want to generate an excel report on client users on my network/ intranet. I was hoping to have a desktop app using C# to connect to SQL server and manipulate the data then bind it开发者_StackOverflow中文版 to excel. some formatting would go on here as well.

I don't think this is possible so long story short I want a method for getting a custom excel report to users on my network that pulls from a sql server and can be linked to from the intranet as well as being able to deploy once to all users.

any thoughts?

One approach would be to create Excel 2007 XML files using the (free) microsoft excel SDK. This supports all of the excel functionality including formulas and formatting:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338205(v=office.12).aspx

You should also be able to open these files in excel 2000 or later if you install the compatibility pack for office 2007 (again free)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en

Have you considered using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)? This would allow you to put a web based report in a central location and it also provides ways to export to excel.

Take a look at this link:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms157153.aspx